Mouse vs. spring loaded joystick for the stick

vanosten

Hi

I struggle a bit with flying helicopters. After several hours I have the sensitivity of the throttle (Warthog) and the pedals in a IMO good shape for controlling those aspects. What is left is the stick. As I do not have space for a heli-setup I guess I am left with a choice between two choices:

• Spring loaded joystick (Thrustmaster Warthog)
• Mouse

My question is: given that I have rudder pedals, an ok throttle and TrackIR for the head movement -> would you go by training flying with a springloaded stick or a mouse for x/y axis?

PS: I am mostly interested in the AS350 and the SeaKing

stuartc

AS350 is a killer with a poor stick setup. Personally I would remove the spring or try and pre compress it ( small cable ties ) to remove the tension especially for fine control near the centre point

You can get a Heli mod for the Warthog. It Gives it the length of a proper heli cyclic and due to the laws of physics, you will notice less effect of the spring if you leave it untouched.

https://www.helisimmer.com/reviews/rainman-simulators-warthog-adaptor-kit

Timi

What the helimod does not give you is the proper amount of travel for the stick because the warthog stick tilts way more than a real cyclic would. So that would need to be compensated for in the stick calibration or in the sim's own settings if it allows for the scaling of the axes.

Another option would be to buy a warthog stick extension like this:

https://mfg-sim.com/en/warthog-extensions/7-mfg-warthog-extension.html#/767-size_color-12_cm_black

That would keep the stick travel in check. Personally I used to have a 15 cm extension until I bought a dedicated control set for choppers.

stuartc

In your stick xml you will have an entry like:-

 <axis>

  <desc type="string">Aileron</desc>

  <binding>

   <command type="string">property-scale</command>

   <property type="string">/controls/flight/aileron</property>

   <factor type="double">1</factor>

   <offset type="double">0</offset>

   <power type="double">1.8</power><!-- Adjust this line to change sensitivity -->

  <dead-band type="double">0</dead-band>

  </binding>

 </axis>

Apart from the power, you can also change the factor to get the level of movement. I rarely use the full movement on my cyclic when flying choppers. It only has about 30 -40 degree of movement ark before hitting the stops. When flying any R series Im barely using about 10 degree of movement in normal flight ( my sticks are calibrated to replicate the sensitivity of the R66 cyclic ).

Timi

Yeah, I know FlightGear can do it but for me it would be a bit of a hassle with multiple sims to find ways to scale the axes. I'd rather have the stick travel in the correct ballpark to begin with.

vanosten

Thank you very much. Implicitely I sense that the mouse is not the way to go - which is valuable input. For the stick I might need to have a talk with my better half then and reconsider the AS350 for something else at least temporarily.

Timi

Mouse could be a way to go. I suppose it depends on what one wants out of this hobby.

the best experience can be had with realistic controllers though. And I brought some

options to consider along with Stuart's suggestions. Because there are a lot of hardware

out there and all kinds of reasons to use something else than the other guy.

Timi

Also I suggested the stick extension because it only costs around 30 EUR

and would make your experience with the warthog a lot better for

helicopters. The leverage the extension gives also reduces the tension of

the spring quite a bit. But of course some kind of platform needs to be

built in front of the chair to hold the stick at proper hight above the floor

though.

Timi

And one other thing. I'd say the Warthog with an extension is so good

that going from that to dedicated helicopter controls is not really

worth the cost. Sure, the experience is better, but not so much better

that it would be worth the actual cost. But some people just go for

those diminishing returns anyway.